Explosive compound



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

.SILAS R. DIVINE OE LOGH SHELDRAKE,. NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO THE BEND ROCKPOWDER COMPANY, OF NEW JERSEY.

EXPLOSlVE COMPOUND.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 289,762,

dated Il'Jeceruber 4, 1883.

Application filed August 8, 1883. (No specimens.)

To aZZ whom it may concern Be it known that I, SILAS R. DIVINE, of LochSheldrake, Sullivan county, State of New York, and a citizen of theUnited States, have invented an Improved Explosive Compound, of whichthe following is a full,.clear, and exact specification.

The obj ect of my invention is to sensitize or impart increasedsusceptibility to explosion to an explosive compound, for use chiefly inblasting, composed of chlorate of potash and the heavy oilof coal-tar,.what known as dead-oil, so that'the said com; pound may be readilyexploded under various conditions of confinement, as in loose or rottenrock or shale, or in earth, or in the open all.

My invention consists in an explosive compound composed of chlorate ofpotash and dead-oil,.substantially in the proportions of about sevenand'one-half parts of the former to one part of thelatter, (as describedby me in a separate application for- Letters Patent, filed July 23,1883,) with the wet or moist mass of which said ingredients is unitedsulphur, in afiuly-powderd state, in the proportions hereinafter setforth.

As is stated in said application for Letteis l atent, above referred to,either perchlorate or permanganate of potash may be employed in place ofchlorate of potash in the compound; and in like manner other fluidhydrocarbons which are practically non-volatilein a free stateat-ordinarytemperaturessay such ashave a boiling-point above 300Fahrenheit-may be substituted for the deadoil; and the exact theoreticalproportions in which these said ingredients combine most is commonlyeffectively to constitute the explosive compound need not be strictlyadhered to, as a variation somewhat therefrom will still yield anefiective explosion; and, furthermore, the chlorate of potash being in acrushed or powdered state and used as the solid ingredient,

and the dead-oil being used as the liquid ingredient of the compound,these two ingredients may be readily combined by simply allowing thesaid solid to absorb the liquid.

The proportion in which it is desirable to use the sulphur isfrom aboutone to threeper cent. thereof relatively to the mass of the combined twoother ingredients; but these pro portions may be varied withoutdeparting from the essential feature of the invention. The sulphur isunited with the wet or moist mass of the combined chlorate of potash andnitro-benzole, and this may be accomplished by mixing the sulphur withsaid mass by hand in a suitable vessel. The danger of spontaneousexplosion, attendant upon mixing sul- 6o phur with chlorate of potash ina dry state, is thus avoided.

\Vhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

The explosive compound herein described, composed of chlorate of potashand the heavy oil of coal-tar, (dead-oil,) substantially in theproportions named, with the wet or moist massv of which said combinedingredients is united sulphur, substantially in the proportions and 70as and for the purpose set forth..

SILAS n. DIVINE.

Witnesses:

